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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Last time it was Greg Slaughter who carried the Ateneo Blue Eagles over the Adamson Soaring Falcons. This time, it was his fellow rookie Kiefer "The Phenom" Ravena's turn to carry the Blue Eagles over their Arch Rivals, the DLSU Green Archers. After being held scoreless in his debut game for the Ateneo, Kiefer showed to all his haters that he can rise to the challenge especially when it comes to big time games such as this one. He had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals. He was subsequently named as the PS Bank Maasahan best player of the game because of his fine showing. He almost broke the record that was set by UST's Dylan Ababou in terms of most points scored in the first half alone. Dylan had 23 points which he had way back in 2009 while Kiefer had 22 points today. He was just 1 point shy from breaking that long standing record. But he still has time to do so. Going on, the final score of this game was 81-72 in favor of the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

La Salle never led in this game as the Ateneo seized the game right from the get go. In the first quarter Kiefer Ravena worked his way to the basket in several instances, using his speed and upper body strength in finishing his shots. LA Revilla, Simon Atkins, Luigi Dela Paz, and Oda Tampus took turns in guarding him but he's just to good to be stopped. He notched in 14 big points in the first quarter alone. He was named as the Jollibee champ of the first quarter. Ravena spear headed Ateneo in grabbing the driver seat early in the game. Since that fiery start of the Blue Eagles, they never looked back to DLSU. Ateneo finished the first quarter with a 9 to 0 run to take a commanding 23-16 lead over the Green Archers. Just to note, I believe they had a 60-70 percent field goal shooting clip in this quarter while La Salle was struggling to shoot the ball.

The second quarter was just like the first quarter. Ravena once again had his way and he just can't be stopped. The Phenom has finally stamped his class in the UAAP. He added 8 points to his 14 points in the first quarter. All in all he had 22 points at the end of the first half. La Salle's field goal shooting on the other hand was so low. They only shot 13% from the field. That will not do it against a quality team like Ateneo.

In the second half, DLSU's pressure defense and some three point shots made it possible for them to keep the game a manageable one. Luigi Dela Paz of La Salle made a 3-pointer that made their score closer to Ateneo, 35-46 in the 5 minute mark of the 3rd quarter but Kiefer Ravena started to work again. He made a terrific steal, and he immediately passed the ball to Kirk Long for a free lay-up in the last 2 minutes and 46 seconds of the 3rd quarter. That lay-up extinguished the run of La Salle as Ateneo once again increased their lead to 19 points, 58-39.

In the fourth quarter Greg Slaughter started to work against Norbert Torres. Torres committed several fouls when Greg attacked him from time to time. La Salle tried to come back into the game as LA Revilla tried to score in bunches through his daredevil drives. He was able to cut the lead of the Blue Eagles down to 7 points 65-58. I think he once again had a double digit output in this game. I believe that he had 18 points or 19 points in this game. He's the lone bright spot for La Salle, but unfortunately, his efforts came short as his two other reliable teammates, Simon Atkins and Norbert Torres fouled out into the game while they were making a run. Before they left the ball game, the score was 75-70. Ateneo only had a 5 point lead in the last 1 minute and 3 seconds of the 4th quarter. In the dying seconds, La Salle opted to foul Emman Monfort. He made both of his free throws to make the score 77-70 in favor of Ateneo. The Green Archers continued to foul but the Blue Eagles sank all of their charities en route to establishing the final score, 81-72.
They continue their winning streak as they now have 2 wins and no loss while La Salle continue to lose as they now have no win and 2 losses.